German shepherd leads woman to body of his DEAD owner who had been deceased for a WEEK before neighborhood rallies to catch the distressed pet and find him a new home

A California woman managed to catch a crazed dog that ran through her neighborhood for weeks — and the pooch led her to a shocking discovery.

Catherine DeFazio had seen online warnings about a German Shepherd appearing loose around her Sacramento neighborhood.

One day, DeFazio finally saw the dog on her porch before he started running into the street.

“I'm like, 'No, don't go out into the streets.' Don't do it,” she said. “And he went over there into the bushes about three feet from the walkway,” she said.

Where the dog led DeFazio next was a heartbreaker. He showed her what appeared to be a corpse.

The dog is seen in an image roaming the Sacramento area

“He made a scream, and he looked into my eyes like that, like that. And I looked over, and I thought, there's no way there's a dead body,” she said KCRA.

There is currently a backpack, some tarp and other debris near where the body was discovered.

“So I walked over here and there he was,” DeFazio continued. 'When you are lonely and/or alone, an animal is everything to you.'

DeFazio — who said she had seen dead bodies of homeless people turning up in the neighborhood in recent years — immediately contacted police, who in turn brought a coroner to the scene.

Their office was able to determine that the man had been dead a full week before DeFazio found him.

'I started putting 2 and 2 together. “I knew I had never seen that dog before, and I realized it was his,” she said.

The unknown man's dog continued to roam the neighborhood for two weeks after finding his owner's body, and DeFazio was determined to track him down again.

'I was standing in the bushes with dark clothes on and literally with flashlights. And I think: I can do this. “If anyone can do it, I can do it,” she said.

Catherine DeFazio had seen online warnings about a German Shepherd appearing loose around her Sacramento neighborhood

One day, DeFazio finally saw the dog on her porch before he started running into the street

Where the dog led DeFazio next was a heartbreaker: He showed her what appeared to be a dead body

DeFazio brought along two other women to help her finally find the dog, including Nicole Hartman, who works at local dog rescues.

Hartman said the poor dog is in a state of grief following the death of his owner.

'He's healthy. He's in good shape. He's as sweet as can be. But he cries for his owner. He wants his owner. And that's clearly not happening now,” she said.

Hartman said the dog is not in the right shape for re-adoption, but that will happen in due course.

“Give me thirty days,” she said. “He's going to be a completely different dog.”

'Right now he's sad. He is depressed. He is crying. He doesn't eat. He doesn't drink. I think he finally peed. But it will take him a good week to decompress,” Hartman added.

DeFazio believes she did the dog and its late owner a favor by trying to find him a safe home.

There is currently a backpack, some tarp and other debris near where the body was discovered

DeFazio brought out two other women to help her finally find the dog

“I felt like he was grateful to have been found, and I felt like the dog was taking me to him,” she said.

“And all I could do is be respectful and uphold his honor, whether he was homeless, chose to be or not.”

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Sacramento County Coroner's Office for more information.